18th Sunday of Year C 2013

 18^th. Sunday of Year (C)

(Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21)

Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

Jesus’ words are in close accord with the modern scientific attitude which requires us to know the nature, the type, and the quality of whatever we might be using if we are to get the best working results from it.   Today we are constantly bombarded by governmental warnings about the dangers of smoking and ‘binge’ drinking, and recommendations concerning healthy eating and physical exercise, to mention only the least controversial items of advice for suitable personal living.  Jesus, therefore, in His advice to us today, is indeed up to date in His approach but far, far, deeper in His thought and understanding which are absolutely fundamental:  think about life if you want to get the most out of it; learn from the experience of mankind in general, don’t just let immediate personal pleasure or advantage blind you; above all, seek out and learn from the Giver of the gift that:

      Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

Notice, in passing, that Jesus, in replying to the man who called out to Him from the crowd, does not try to explain, publicly, what is a false appreciation of man’s life on earth and what is the real truth about its purpose and possibilities.  Jesus is answering a man whose mind and heart are centred on money, and the Old Testament (Proverbs 28:22) tells us clearly:

A man with an evil eye hastens after riches, and does not consider that poverty will come upon him.

And so Jesus does not attempt to reveal -- either by explanation or persuasion -- what is holy, to one with an evil eye.  He simply gives a warning:

Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

That should have helped the man to stop, think, and hopefully reconsider and revise his attitude; for, only after having done that could he be in a position to appreciate the difference between passing satisfaction and abiding fulfilment, and then to fruitfully proceed to inquire about what is truly good and worth-while.  Here the words of St. Paul in our second reading are most pertinent:

Put on the new self, which is being renewed for knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Only one renewed by faith in Christ and endowed with the guiding Spirit of Christ is able to see and appreciate the ultimate beauty, truth, and love behind our experience of life in a world afflicted and at times ravaged by the effects of human sin.  Until that change had taken place within him, however, the evil man will continue to run after riches totally unaware of the fact that ultimate poverty was hastening in his direction, eager to meet him.

However, Jesus did -- as the Gospel account reports -- go on to explain further to His disciples what could not be given to those with ears that would not hear and eyes that did not see; and Mother Church does likewise for us today in so far as she puts today’s Gospel passage together with readings from Ecclesiastes and St. Paul as we have heard.

What is life?  What -- if we are humble, devout and attentive enough -- can we learn about it that will enable us to use it rightly and wisely?

First of all, the passage quoted from the book of Ecclesiastes makes a supremely important fact about life abundantly clear:

Here is one who has laboured with wisdom and knowledge and skill; and yet, to another who has not laboured over it, he must leave his property. This is vanity and a great misfortune.

In other words, our hold on life is uncertain; the number of our years is unknown; and we cannot take our possessions with us when we leave, no matter what they may mean to us, nor how much time, care, and effort we may have bestowed on them.

The second reading from St. Paul then told us that, when our time on earth is ended, life does not come to an end, for we have a heavenly destiny, a heavenly fulfilment, to attain or to lose:

Set your mind on things above … for your (real) life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.

Do those words ‘set your mind on things above’ mean that we should seek to build up a treasure in heaven instead of one on earth?  After all didn’t Jesus say:

Provide yourselves a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also?    (Luke 12:33-34)

Jesus did indeed mean and say precisely that; and thereby hangs a tale, so to speak, a tale of confrontation and conflict which has helped to divide, but also, let us pray, might ultimately serve to guide and prosper, Western Christendom. 

In order to understand those words of Jesus we have to remember that He had said immediately before:

Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32)

Therefore, our good works of whatever sort, will be ‘a treasure’ for us in heaven, and also a gift from God: a treasure, indeed, but not exclusively ours; for our glory, yes, but not a treasure enabling us to buy our way into heaven, to save ourselves.  On the contrary, our heavenly treasure will be found to bear an eternal witness to the Father’s goodness to us, in Jesus, by the Spirit, throughout our life:

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. (John 14:12)

The old Protestant battle-cry of ‘sola fides’, trusting in the Scriptures of Christ that alone can obtain for us the grace of justification, was based on, or rather provoked by, a misunderstanding of the Catholic attitude, a misunderstanding induced, we must admit, by massive personal and institutional scandals, together with a scholarly over-emphasis on the powers of reason at the expense of biblical sensitivity and personal responsiveness.

Today we are very familiar with debate about the need for people to have pensions to help their needs in old age; and many, indeed probably most people, regard retirement as a time to relax and enjoy the fruits which the nest-egg they have built up over the years will enable them to experience.  They have provided for themselves, all is well!  That is how ‘good works’ appeared to Luther in the Church of his times: ‘good works’ acquired by gifts of money, works of penance, pilgrimages etc. apparently could guarantee salvation for people who were otherwise independent of Christ, certainly not living for Him, loving Him, and hoping totally on His Spirit.  This false attitude is not absent even today.  Of course, there is less emphasis on the buying and selling of indulgences, but there can still be excessive and unwarranted trust in occasional contributions or passing devotions in no way backed up by faithful Church observance and Catholic obedience.  There are far too many Catholics, even today, who follow teachings, practice spiritualities and devotions of various sorts, without giving serious attention to building up a personal relationship with Jesus to be found in the Scriptures and encountered in the Sacraments and teaching of the Church.   Indeed, the greatest sacrament of all, the Eucharist itself, is far too frequently ‘used’ in an impersonal manner: with no return of personal commitment to Him Who sacrificed Himself for us, and no deep response of personal love to Him Who loved us to the end.

And yet, there is only one infallible sign and expression of Catholic holiness: it is not works, it is not faith, it is love:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

And what love is being spoken of by the Apostle there?  Love of God: seen darkly indeed here on earth, but, nevertheless, experienced most surely in Jesus:

When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.  Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.  And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.         (1 Corinthians 13:10-14:1)

Why is such love of God the greatest?   Not simply because it is love for God, Whom we shall see clearly, face to face; Whom we shall then know as He now knows us; not even simply because it was said by Jesus to be the fulfilment of the first and greatest commandment:

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  (Mark 12:30)

The Love of God of which we speak is the greatest, above and beyond all other virtues and excellences, because it is divine charity, that is, a sharing in Jesus’ own love for the Father, and it is that – essentially, though as yet initially -- even here on earth.   It is not a human emotional love, neither is it an intellectual attraction or fascination, it is a sharing in the Holy Spirit of Jesus:

Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)

And, People of God, as we look back on the life and death of Jesus our Lord we recognise that that Spirit of love which drove Jesus to such lengths for His Father and for us cannot remain inactive in us: if the love of God is truly in us, then He -- the Spirit of Love and Truth -- will be at work in us and through us in some way or other.  And our good works, thus accomplished in Jesus and by His Spirit, will indeed be a treasure for us in heaven; and yet, they will in no way be a cause for personal pride, for they will humble us every bit as much as they delight us: being eternal reminders of God’s wondrous mercy and goodness to us in Jesus throughout our life on earth; and, by the Spirit, an eternal inspiration to gratitude and provocation to praise before the Father Who worked such things through His Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, dwelling in us.

17th Sunday of the Year (C) 2013

 17^th. Sunday Year (C)

(Genesis 18:20-32; Colossians 2:12-14; Luke 11:1-13)

Our Gospel reading today is all about prayer: Jesus gave us what we call the "Lord’s Prayer", and then He told us a parable exhorting us to persevere in prayer.  I was very struck by those final words of His:

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

How many people, in their prayers, ask to be given the Holy Spirit?  Surely, most who, in their prayer ask to be given something, will ask for a blessing suited to this world: health, food, success, comfort, strength, or whatever, for themselves or for those dear to them.  Now, it is clear from the prayer Jesus gave us that He does not disapprove of such requests: for He gave us words asking for bread, forgiveness, and protection; and He Himself, in His own personal prayer, frequently asked His Father to strengthen and guide Him.  So how is it then that He speaks, in the verse I have just quoted, as though the heavenly Father gives only the Holy Spirit, no matter what we might request?

We have here a wonderful example of the hidden riches of Holy Scripture!  We do pray for all sorts of blessings for ourselves and, as the example of Abraham encouraged us to do, also for others.  When, in such prayers, we pray according to the will of God, He hears our prayers and grants our requests: but He does this through the Holy Spirit, ever secretly at work in our lives and in our world. 

Even more important, however, is the implicit teaching contained in those words of Jesus: namely, that we can ask for nothing better than the gift of the Holy Spirit: this is because He is, Personally, the "Gift of God" which means that He, the Holy Spirit, is the Gift the Father wants to give, and Jesus wants us to receive, above all; and therefore He is, indeed, the supreme Gift for which a disciple of Jesus can, and should, pray.   Let us try to understand why.

In the first reading we had the vague hint of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity - three Persons in one God – found in the deepest layers of the Old Testament:

And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. .

Three "men" had come to Abraham's camp in the heat of the day and had accepted his hospitality; then, as you heard, they spoke as one: "The Lord said … I will go down to Sodom."  Not "we will go down", but "I will go down".  However, we are then told that it was two of the three who "turned away and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord."  Somehow those heavenly guests of Abraham were one and three. 

As you know, the Son and the Holy Spirit were sent by the Father on earth, as it were to sinful Sodom, for our salvation.  The Son was born of Mary and was called Jesus because He it was – the Son of Man - Who would die and rise again to free us from our sins.  After dying on the Cross, Jesus rose to heaven as He had foretold (Luke 22:69):

              

Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God, 

and it was the Holy Spirit Who came down upon the Church to extend Jesus' salvation to all mankind.

This had been foretold in Psalm 110:

The LORD said to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool."

Jesus, therefore, the Son of Man, having conquered sin and death, is now seated at the right of God the Father in glory, while the Holy Spirit -- working in and through Mother Church and, indeed, all men and women of good will -- makes His enemies and the enemies of mankind’s salvation a footstool for His feet.

Now, perhaps, you can begin to see why we should want to receive, above all other gifts, this Gift of God, the Holy Spirit, into our lives.

For He is, first of all, the Spirit of Truth, Who alone can lead us to the truth of Jesus and about Jesus:

When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. (John 15:26)

Again, He is the Spirit of holiness:

Jesus Christ our Lord was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:4)

Who, therefore, can lead us to holiness of life more surely than the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of holiness.

Moreover, He alone knows God's will for us, what He expects of you and me individually, and what He has prepared for us (1 Corinthians 2:11):

            No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit knows us through and through: for if, according to the Scriptures, no other human being can know us as we know ourselves:

what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?     

how much more true is it, that the Holy Spirit Who knows the things of God Himself and who dwells in the hidden depths and secret folds of every human heart,  knows us infinitely better than we could ever know ourselves?

Finally we should pray for God's Gift because Jesus Himself has put this request first and foremost in the prayer He taught His disciples:

            Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. 

Only the Spirit of holiness can hallow the Father's name; and He, moreover, is the One Who has been sent by the Father to make Jesus' enemies a footstool under His feet and thus bring in the Kingdom of God:

            Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.

People of God, Mother Church is suffering greatly today for the sins of the world no doubt, but also for her own sins.  There is no sure defence, nor can there be, against personal sin ... it is the work of one far more powerful than men: Satan, the Devil.  Against such a foe, only God, the God of truth and love, holiness and power, can defend and redeem us.  When, therefore, society as a whole turns away from God, when governments accord Him no power or authority in their social structures, then we are guided and governed by nothing more than strictly limited human wisdom at the best which is totally incapable of defending us against sin.  Politicians, and government ministers of all sorts, here and abroad, strike attitudes and use pretentious words that, often enough, serve no other purpose than to hide, cover up, not only human ineptitude and institutional malfunctions, but also international greed and malpractice of all sorts.  Money can and does lead men and women of apparent rectitude to do great evil, not only in secret and against individuals but, what is much worse, against the public body.  The desire for popular acceptance together with the fear of public disapproval, motivate the political body as a whole much more forcefully than does solicitude or respect for their fellow men.

Therefore we must remember:

We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit Who is from God,  that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. ( 1 Corinthians 2:12)

We must treasure "the things freely given to us by God", that is our faith, His truth and grace, and the hope which it inspires in us; we have to reject the worldly craving for popularity and political correctness if we would hope to have the Holy Spirit of God at work in us: forming us, secretly but surely, in the likeness of Jesus.  The world loves to plan and plot now for its own future profit and advantage; we, as disciples of Jesus, must live in the present in such a way as to sustain hope for our eternal destiny, and that we can only do by the active rejection of sin in the present and the persevering practice of prayer for the future.  

Which one of you convicts Me of sin? (John 8:46)

We can, as did Jesus in the desert, turn away from temptation and reject sin in our lives by the power of His grace, in the power of His own Spirit Whom He shares with us; and in thus fighting to overcome sin in our lives we will, inevitably, practice and grow in true virtue. The acquisition of holiness, however, is not within our sphere of competence, so to speak: we cannot plan to become holy of and for ourselves, for such endeavours, be they moved by spiritual simplicity or, more likely, by spiritual ambition, by virtue of their being fatally flawed with presumption, can result in nothing more than an imitation holiness for human appreciation only.  God alone is Holy, and true holiness for a child of God is not a worldly commodity humanly conceived and fabricated, so to speak; neither is it even the faithful following of a predetermined path apparently walked by saints or taught by spiritual guides: it is a human sharing in the very nature of God, and only persevering prayer can help us toward that which is essentially His Gift alone;  and even then, such prayer is largely a matter of listening and longing, looking, waiting and aspiring, come what may.

The Holy Spirit, the Gift of God, alone can lead us to that holiness which God wants of us individually: He is the Spirit of holiness, indeed, He is the Spirit of Love, and love of Jesus, love of God, is the only truly authentic holiness for human beings.  We have to humbly and perseveringly pray for that; firmly trusting that the Father, of His great mercy and goodness, will give it to us, for Jesus' sake, in His own way and according to His own measure, not as the world or our own pride would have it.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on a day such as this, let us confidently and whole-heartedly renew our hope in His promise:

If you who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?

                                       

16th Sunday of the Year (C) 2013

16^th. Sunday, Year (C)

(Genesis 18:1-10; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42)

Mother Church has set before us today readings from the treasury of her Scriptures which urge us to pay careful attention to the sort of welcome we give  Jesus into our lives.  The Gospel reading told us:

Jesus entered a certain village and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.

In the first reading we were told of a theophany in which Abraham:

Looking up, he saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground, he said: ‘Sir, if I may ask you this favour, please do not go on past your servant.  Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree.  Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way.’ ‘Very well,’ they replied, ‘do as you have said.’

Both accounts told of a sincere welcome being given to divine and angelic visitors.   Abraham, however, was as attentive as he could possibly have been:  

He took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

Martha, on the other hand, was not quite so whole-hearted:

Martha was burdened with much serving, and Jesus said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.’

What was Martha so anxious about?  First of all, something that perhaps she did not recognize, or would not admit had she been able to recognize it: namely, her desire not only to prepare well for Jesus, but also to be seen to prepare well, a desire not to let herself down, so to speak.  But there was something else too; after all, Jesus said that she was not only “anxious” but also "worried" about something.  Now Martha had a sister, a younger sister, Mary, and it may perhaps have been the case that Martha, being the elder, and also a dynamic sort of person, was accustomed to taking or giving a lead, and the difficulty, the "worrying" aspect for her today, was the fact that Mary was not following her lead, for we are told that:

Mary sat beside the Lord at His feet listening to Him speak.   

Consequently, it was not possible for Martha to be whole-hearted in her welcome of Jesus because she was both concerned about her own image, and, at the same time, irritated by what she considered to be her younger sister’s lack of consideration.  And so, Martha, being an honest -- even blunt -- soul, could not restrain herself from making known to Jesus what was, indeed, troubling her:

She approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell her to help me.’

Looking again at Abraham, we see that he had been well rewarded for his hospitality and attentiveness; but not only Abraham, for Sarah too had shared fully with Abraham by preparing food for the guests in the background.    Both, therefore, had been rewarded with the promise of a son, the child for whom they had prayed long and hard but who, they had come to think, would never be theirs.   In the Gospel story, therefore, though Jesus appreciated Martha's toil and solicitude, He considered Mary's attentive love and self-forgetfulness to be of another order, and so He said in reply to Martha's complaint:

Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.

Mary’s self-less commitment to, and appreciation of, the Word that Jesus was speaking, was a choice valid for eternity and it won her a blessing that would never be revoked.   Her love for the authority and beauty of Jesus’ message caused her to forget herself; Martha, on the other hand, though she truly loved Jesus, still cherished herself dearly: she could not yet work whole-heartedly and with humility, as Sarah had done before when plagued with the thought that - by human reckoning - she was not being sufficiently appreciated.

Now we are all here at Mass to welcome Jesus -- all of us, I myself, just as much as you – and the welcome we give is, as our readings show, mysteriously significant and important.   Each of us must welcome Jesus, first of all, into our own heart, and then, all of us together, into our parish community and thereby into His universal Church, and finally - let us never forget it - through us and His Church He must be welcomed into our world:

May this sacrifice of our reconciliation, we pray, O Lord, advance the peace and salvation of all the world. 

At this moment then, the Universal Church and the whole of mankind, are, to a certain extent, relying upon us and the sort of welcome we give to Our Lord: because, the deeper, the more sincere and whole-hearted that welcome, the greater the blessing will be, for ourselves, for the Church, and for the world.

The apostle Paul, speaking to us in the second reading, said:

I became a minister in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the Word of God, the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.

Let us now, therefore, listen carefully to him telling us something of the Word he had been sent to preach to us and for us.  It is, he says:

the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past, but now manifested to His holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: it is Christ in you, the hope for glory. 

So, the apostle was to proclaim the mystery of Christ dwelling in all who are His faithful disciples in Mother Church: to make known the riches of this mystery by opening up our minds to the prospect of eternal glory promised by Our Lord, and our hearts to the influx of a joyous and inspiring hope through the gift of His Holy Spirit.  

The question now is, of course, what sort of welcome are you giving - even here and now - to this proclamation and explanation of the mystery of Christ at work in us through His Spirit?  For some misguided and half-hearted Catholics Mass begins and ends with Holy Communion.  Now how can such people truly welcome Christ in Holy Communion when they ignore Him in His Holy Word, having no interest in the Scriptures nor in the God-given power, privilege, and duty of Mother Church and her priests both to proclaim and to explain the mystery of Christ among us and in us?  How can they welcome into their own lives Him Whom they can't be bothered to understand in His Body, the Church?  Who can be filled with gratitude for riches of which they choose to be ignorant?

Holy Mass starts at the very beginning of our assembly when we first ask God to free us from our sins.  We do that so that we may be able to celebrate the whole Eucharistic offering aright: first of all by hearing God's word with our ears, as it is proclaimed, and then embracing it with our minds and hearts as it is appreciated and explained in the homily.  Only after having thus welcomed Christ in His Word are we rightly called and enabled to offer ourselves - in Him and with Him - in His own Eucharistic offering and sacrifice for the Father’s glory and the salvation of mankind.   Welcoming the Bread of Life Himself together with His Gift of the Holy Spirit into our very hearts and lives through Holy Communion is the consummation of our oneness with Him and the sure hope of our enduring faithfulness and fruitfulness in His work.

It is particularly important for us today, however, to give attention to the welcome we accord to the Word of God, to Jesus in the Scriptures proclaimed by Mother Church.  Commonly, these days, people want short readings and almost demand short sermons; and it nearly always raises an easy and rather cheap laugh when this attitude is made into a sort of joke: "If you can't say what you want to say in five minutes, it's not worth saying".   This was not the attitude of the early Church, as can be appreciated from the following account to be found the Acts of the Apostles of a church meeting led by Paul at Troas:

On the first day of the week when we gathered to break bread, Paul spoke to them because he was going to leave on the next day, and he kept on speaking until midnight.  A young man named Eutychus who was sitting on the window sill was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. Once overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and when he was picked up, he was dead.  Paul went down, threw himself upon him, and said as he embraced him, “Don‘t be alarmed; there is life in him.”  Then he returned upstairs, broke the bread, and ate; after a long conversation that lasted until daybreak, he departed.  And they took the boy away alive and were immeasurably comforted. (Acts 20:7-12)

Obviously what is prolonged for no good reason is not welcome.  But no one, having some treasured possession, is ever content to look at it, rejoice in it, or express their appreciation of it, for just once, and then never again allow himself to take further delight in it.  Now the Scriptures are like a field that contains countless hidden treasures.  If you are computer-wise you will be aware of some programmes where certain words are signalled, which, if you press on them, up pops further information, further enlightenment.  Holy Scripture is something like that.  A Scripture reading might seem, at first, to be just a long sequence of not very interesting words, phrases and sentences, but, by the grace of God, any one of those sentences or phrases, indeed almost any one of those words can be found to contain so much that is beautiful beyond measure.  Now, the only way to discover such treasures contained in the Scriptures, is not, indeed, by pressing some mechanical button, but by learning from the wisdom of Mother Church, and by entering into a personal relationship with the Spirit of Jesus, that is, by allowing the Holy Spirit, Who first inspired those sacred words, to reveal something of their meaning to you.  If you do not prayerfully approach the Scriptures yourself, if you will not hear them or listen to explanations of them with reverence and respect, then the Holy Spirit will in no way lead you to find the treasures they contain, for did not Jesus Himself once say to His Apostles (Matthew 7:6):

Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine. 

On the other hand, however, those who do reverence the Scriptures, receive a blessing from the Lord, Who, spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying:

On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.   (Isaiah 66:2)

They are the ones who, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, discover and delight in the hidden treasures of the Scriptures; for them, the words of the Scriptures are revealed as words of life, as Jesus Himself said:

It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'   (Matthew 4:4)

That is the manna God offers us His People as He leads us through the desert of this world to our home in heaven; it is the food we need for a journey which can be long; the food meant to give us peace and joy, to be our comfort and strength, to become, indeed, our very life and fulfilment.  May all of us gathered here today be enabled to receive and experience it as such, through the loving kindness and mercy of God our Father, Jesus our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit Who is God’s Gift to each and every one of us in Mother Church.